Setting your weight loss goals deadlines.

When we start on our weight loss path, we become impatient, we want to see the pounds melt and the inches go away fast.

Many of us will get on the scale at least once a day if not more often, and we get disappointed when the numbers don’t change as fast as we want.

And we think, “what the heck is going on?, I’m doing everything right, but I’m not losing any weight.”

The fact is that when it comes to healthy weight loss we have to be patient. We didn’t put the weight on overnight, we won’t lose it overnight either unless you undergo weight loss surgery, and that’s a topic for another time… 🙂

When setting your weight loss goals deadlines, you have to take several things into consideration, the rate of your metabolism, your age, how many pounds overweight you are, how active you are, how many calories are you ingesting, and your genetics.

All those factors play a role when it comes to losing weight.

If your goal is to lose 20 pounds in a month, you are up for a disappointment. It’s just not going to happen. That is not a healthy weight loss rate.

Let’s see what would be a realistic goal for a 20 pounds weight loss… Take into consideration that a 2 pounds weight loss per week is what is considered healthy and it’s the average that most people lose.

If you want to lose 20 pounds, it would take you approximately 2 1/2 months. Now, remember, we tend to lose the first few pounds faster because we are mostly losing fluid and not fat. After the first fast weight loss, we tend to plateau or lose the weight slowly, so you have to take those factors into consideration as well.

If you set a weight loss of 20 pounds for 1 month, you will be putting so much stress in yourself that chances are you will end up disappointed and you will give up.

When you are setting your weight loss goals, you want to make it so that you have enough time so you can feel motivated, and not stressed out.

In fact, stress will increase your cortisol levels. High cortisol levels make it harder to lose weight.

Make your goals big enough that it challenges you, but not in a time frame that you can’t meet. A healthy weight loss rate will give you the time to make the necessary changes that you will need to adopt to keep the pounds off.

There are no impossible goals, only unrealistic time frames.

The way I like to think about it is like when you are peeling an onion. You start from the outside in, and you take the layers off slowly, that’s exactly how the layers of your body will come off.

Losing weight is a natural by-product of having a healthy and active lifestyle.

If you start trying to be healthy vs trying to lose weight the weight will come off with less effort. Don’t kill yourself to achieve a number on the scale, because if you have not enjoyed the journey and made some necessary adjustments in your life to be healthier, you will gain all the weight back.

When is it realistic for you to achieve your goal? Think of what works for you, not what have worked for others. Take into consideration your day to day commitments, your lifestyle, your obligations and then decide about how ready you are to dedicate time to losing the weight and to work at it.

If the date you set up doesn’t excite you, doesn’t make you giggle, and instead scares the heck out of you, and you are thinking that you are not going to make it and that you are going to fail and be disappointed, change the date.

Give yourself enough time to achieve your goal. It’s way better to set a longer goal and over-achieve it than to set a shorter goal and get disappointed.

If you don’t achieve your goal by your deadline, change the deadline, not the goal.

And if you have tons of weight to lose is better not to set a specific time, or be a little more flexible on setting your weight loss goals deadlines. The best way to think about it, if you have a lot of weight to lose, is just to say to yourself “I’ll keep going at it until I achieve my goal”, by doing that you won’t then have to set a date.

Remember your goal needs to inspire you, not scare the heck out of you. 🙂